Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-03-24
THE CITY'S BREAD.
MACHINERY THAT ExcELS THE
HAND IN TURNING OUT LoAvES.

The Men, Teams and Capital Employed.
Difference Between Hand Made
Loaves in the Oven.
A loaf of bread-the most ingenious ma
chinery has been devised to make it; ma
chinery that will beat the hand all to pieces
in purity, oniclness, and the quality OF the
article tur1 ed out In the large establish
ments a machine mixes the sponge, makes
and kneads the dough, and dry heat in brick
conduits bakes it, while steam in coils OF pipe
gives the delicious gloss to the upper crust.
To the average consumer loaf OF bread
seems to be just what its name implies; but,
then, one of the leading concerns In the city
turns out seventeen varieties of bread-Eu-
reka, home made. Vienna. hotel, Pullman,
brick, pan, American cream. Canada, Jumbo,
new process, corn, Graham, all rye, half rye,
and Hamburg This does not include pum-
pernickel and schwarzbrod Of the sturdy
Teuton, nor the savory horn bread Of the
French gourmand.
OF leading firms who have made the pro-
duction of bread an object of big investments
there are five in the city. One of them en-
ploys sixty teams, 100 people, capital of
100000, and turns out "A, 600 loaves of bread
every day The five firms, together with a
dozen wholesalers, have not less than 800
teams, 1,5O0 men and $1.2jO, 900 employed,
while the estimate for the 342 retailers is
1000 teams, 1900 men and S750,0O0 capital,
making total of !, 800 teams, 3, 500 men and
100000. All these agencies are busy from
morn till night, and part of the latter, to
turn out the 800, 900 loaves Of bread which,
an experts estimate says, are daily consumed
in Chicago, not to speak of rolls, buns, twists,
cakes and crackers.
WHAT DIFFERENCE!
A loaf of bread-an everyday occurrence,
vet what q difference between the small baker
who Hsets" his own sponge, lneads his own
dough with big, red knuckles not overclean,
and then goes to rest for nap with piece
of underdone dough for a pillow, waiting
till the Hrise" comes, and the steam bakery.
It's worth ones while to make trip through
one Of the big establishments especially at
this time of the year, when the streets are
cold and the sidewalks slippery. The spong-
ers, mealy all over, make the sponge-the
yeast and just enough -four to give the mass
consistency-on huge, fiat tables, which are
rolled into q warm room, the temperature Of
which is kept TO a certain degree with great
nicely.
Then the sponge, after it has fermented,
together with the necessary -four for the
bake, is turned into hopper, where "con-
ductors" with eccentric arms knead the
dough until it is perfectly seven" and ''donen
The same hopper brings the dough to huge
troughs in The basement, where the mass is
allowed to rest for another "rise." timed
with almost absolute certainty. Then the
benchmen mold the loaf, after the piece of
dough has been weighed. This, of course,
has to be done by land. and so experienced is
first class benchman that he has but rarely
to add to or take from the lump of dough
which is to make the loaf Of a certain weight.
Twice the dough is ''worked over,n two
lumps being handled at the same time by the
benchman, whose left hand must be trained
as well as his right. Then the oven man does
the baking, either in separate pans or on long
trays, according to the quality of the crust
desired.
REGULATING THE HEAT.
In the ovens the heat is so well regulated
that the oven man knows to second when
his bread is done, it scarcely requiring look
during the baking. Dry air ducts do the
baking for common bread, while steam coils
at the ceiling of the oven permits moist heat
TO be turned on at any moment for fine
finishing of the crust. Boys do the dumping
of the bread from the ovens into the baskets,
and then it is ready for the last two handlers,
the driver and the grocer In the bakery
visited the common fve-cent loaf of bread
weighed seventeen ounces; Eureka bread,
costing six cents, and one day old, weighed
eighteen ounces: home made bread, also six
cents, had the same weight-one day pro-
ducing a shrinkage from one-half to one
ounce, and six cent loaf of Vienna bread
weighing between sixteen and seventeen
ounces.
"There is a common belief said the baker,
@that when flour goes down so per cent,
which, of course, it never does, bread ought
to go down so per cent. too, but, you see, a
loaf of bread requires just the same handling,
machinery and capital invested whether
-four is 81 or 50 barrel" Big concerns pur-
chase the -four in large quantities and keep
it a certain length of time before it is used.
Old -four makes better bread and permits Of
exact calculations for rising of the dough and
the bake.
White-hooded sisters of charity do not
little driving in the bread line, gathering in
unstable loaves for the poor in their care,
and, as to stale wheat bread, paper hangers
use not few loaves to clean wall paper and
smoky ceilings. Lincrusta- Walton, the new
ornamental composition for wainscoting and
plafonds, is almost exclusively renovated by
being rubbed with stale bread-Chicago
Herald.